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Aqua Park Penarth: Opening date for new water park at Cosmeston

Aqua Park Penarth: Opening date for new water park at Cosmeston

BBC News30-05-2025
A new water park is set to open this summer, despite concerns being raised for wildlife in the area.The attraction will open at Cosmeston Country Park on 5 July, Vale of Glamorgan Council has announced, after it entered into an agreement with Aqua Park Group to trial a water park during the summer months.Residents and councillors raised concerns about the plans, but council officials insisted conditions would be in place to protect wildlife and the attraction would be restricted to the eastern side of the lake.The water park will be similar to the Aqua Park attraction which used to be at Cardiff Bay, featuring an assault course with inflatable equipment, slides and climbing frames.
The attraction was moved because water quality concerns left it "unable to operate" at the bay.The council's director of place, Marcus Goldsworthy, said the decision to move the attraction presented an opportunity for the council to generate income for improving park facilities at Cosmeston, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.However, concerns about the impact it could have are ongoing, with a petition opposing the plans gaining 3,965 signatures so far.At a scrutiny committee meeting in March, Conservative councillor Anthony Ernest said the more he heard about plans for the water park, the more concerned he grew about its potential impact.Meanwhile, Elliot Penn, a Labour councillor, asked about water quality monitoring on site.
Mr Goldsworthy said the water at Cosmeston is tested twice a year to ensure quality is maintained and added the lake has been used for water-based activities in the past.Vale of Glamorgan Council's cabinet member for sustainable places, Bronwen Brooks, said the water park would be a "great addition to the already fantastic offer at Cosmeston Country Park"."Consultation with residents through the council's placemaking work has shown there is appetite locally - particularly among young people - for more varied leisure activities, and the re-introduction of water-based activities at Cosmeston will help us to ensure that our country parks are for everyone," she said.At the end of September, the council will carry out an evaluation of the water park pilot and decide if it will go out to tender for someone to operate an attraction on the site next year.
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Heathrow Airport's expansion plans to cost £49bn, plans reveal
Heathrow Airport's expansion plans to cost £49bn, plans reveal

BBC News

time27 minutes ago

  • BBC News

Heathrow Airport's expansion plans to cost £49bn, plans reveal

Heathrow Airport has revealed details of its plan to expand and modernise the airport at a cost of £49bn. Thomas Woldbye, CEO of Heathrow Airport, said expansion was "urgent" as the airport was currently working at capacity, "to the detriment of trade and connectivity". The work would be funded by private government has backed plans for a third runway, with Chancellor Rachel Reeves saying it would "make Britain the world's best connected place to do business".However, the plans face opposition from environmental groups, politicians, and locals. London's mayor Sir Sadiq Khan said it would have a "severe impact on noise, air pollution and meeting our climate change targets". The plans come a day after the deadline set by the government for parties to submit plans, which it estimates would be completed within a decade, include:Creation of a third runway, called the "North-Western Runway", which would be up to 3,500m (11,500 ft) long. Heathrow bosses say this will increase capacity to 756,000 flights and 150m passengers a year - it currently serves about 84mA new terminal called T5X, expanding Terminal 2 and three new satellite terminals. It would close Terminal 3Enhancement of local rail connections, plus walking and cycling routesDiversion of the M25, which would involve a new road tunnel under the airport, and widening the motorway between junctions 14-15Creation of two new Heathrow parkways Improvements to Heathrow's bus and coach stationsHeathrow said it would cost £21bn to build the third runway, which includes procuring the land, changing the M25 and other associated infrastructure costs while building the new terminal would be £12bn and modernising the current airport's infrastructure £15bn. Due to rounding, it will total £49bn.A spokesperson added the plans would grow the UK economy by 0.43% GDP. 'Unlock billions' The plans revealed by Heathrow were welcomed by business groups and airline companies. A joint statement from the Confederation of British Industry, British Chambers of Commerce, MakeUK, Federation of Small Businesses and Institute of Directors, said it was "an investment in the nation's future".It added: "The benefits are clear: for exporters, it opens up vital access to major and emerging markets; for visitors, it enhances global and domestic connectivity; and for businesses, it unlocks billions in private investment, strengthening supply chains, creating jobs, and driving skills across the country."John Dickie, chief executive of BusinessLDN, said as the airport was currently operating at full capacity, the expansion would give businesses "better connectivity to overseas markets and support Britain's growth".He added it would also help achieve the government's target of 50 million international visitors per year to the UK. Environmental damage Mr Woldbye said Heathrow's submission was in line with the aviation industry's target to be net zero by 2050. He added that Heathrow was "the airport in the world with the highest uptake of Sustainable Aviation Fuel", and that planning permission would not be granted by government unless legal limits of emissions were adhered to. However, the plans were heavily criticised by groups who called the environmental justifications for the plans as "hopeful marketing spin". Dr Douglas Parr, policy director for Greenpeace UK, said the government had "decided yet again to prioritise more leisure opportunities for a comparatively small group of frequent fliers, whilst the rest of us have to live with the consequences of their disproportionate polluting".He suggested a "frequent flier levy", and said no expansion should take place until there was a solution to the "pollution problem". His concerns were echoed by politicians including Sir Sadiq who said he remained "unconvinced" that hundreds of thousands of additional flights each year would not have a "hugely detrimental" added City Hall would "carefully scrutinise" the impact the extension would have on people living in the area and the "huge knock-on effects for our transport infrastructure, which would require a comprehensive and costed plan to manage". A Liberal Democrat spokesperson said: "Heathrow is already the single largest polluter in the UK, and the Climate Change Committee itself has said expansion would put the UK's climate goals at risk."It's also clear we can't rely on the silver bullet of Sustainable Aviation Fuels to save the day," they added. The Green Party deputy leader, Zack Polankski, said the plans were being delivered "regardless" of the environmental impact. "If Labour's environmental commitments were worth the paper they're written on, these proposals would never have seen the light of day," he residents living in Harmondsworth, near the airport, told the BBC earlier this year a third of the village would be destroyed if a third runway was to go ahead. Rival plans Heathrow's plans follow the publication of a rival proposal by the Arora Group, which has outlined a way to expand the airport without needing to redirect the M25. Owner of the group, hotel tycoon Surinder Arora, said the creation of a third runway and a new terminal, under his plans, had a cost estimate of under £25bn, not including the redevelopment of the airport's existing central proposal crucially does not involve an expensive alteration to the M25, as the group said it was possible to build a 2,800-metre (9,200 ft) third runway instead of the full-length 3,500-metre (11,500 ft) runway planned by the Group said its plan, called Heathrow West, could have a new runway fully operational by 2035, while a new terminal would open in two phases, in 2036 and 2040. Moving the M25 When asked about the added expense of altering the M25 to accommodate a new, third runway, Heathrow's CEO said: "The whole conversation about the M25 has been slightly exaggerated", and that disruption to drivers would be minimal. "We will build a new and much better M25, 100m (330 ft) to the west of the current one. It will be wider and it will be safer and it will have more capacity," Mr Woldbye added. He said plans to create a much shorter runway to avoid moving the M25 - like the one proposed by The Aurora Group - would "not provide the capacity that we and the airlines need", but said the airport would be open to a discussion with airlines about building a shorter runway if it could deliver the same benefits. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said the two proposals were a "significant step towards unlocking growth, creating jobs, and delivering vital national infrastructure"."We'll consider the proposals carefully over the summer so that we can begin a review of the Airports National Policy Statement later this year," she added. 'Half the battle' BBC London's political editor Karl Mercer said: "History has not been kind to plans to build a third runway, whoever has put them forward, and whichever colour government is in power."Gordon Brown's Labour government supported Heathrow expansion in 2009 - that didn't happen. "Then during Conservative Theresa May's reign in 2018, MPs voted overwhelmingly in support of a third runway - only for a series of court challenges and then Covid to put an end to those plans. "There are plenty of Labour MPs in the capital who are still strongly opposed to expansion - 28 voted against it last time and most are still in the House. "Having bidders interested is only half the battle - the hardest half will be getting it delivered."

My father finally acknowledged my stepmother's cruelty. How do I ask him to reconsider their marriage?
My father finally acknowledged my stepmother's cruelty. How do I ask him to reconsider their marriage?

The Guardian

time36 minutes ago

  • The Guardian

My father finally acknowledged my stepmother's cruelty. How do I ask him to reconsider their marriage?

I have a stepmother who my brother and I really despise. She has made our relationship with our dad really hard, and has tried to stop him seeing us at points. She has resented us since we were little. My dad has recently admitted that he thinks she is jealous of us and has a lot of regret for the way we were treated in the past. The trouble lies in the fact that he has said if anything happens to him (ie if he dies first) we would need to make an effort with her will-wise, to ensure we were treated fairly, as he doesn't quite trust she would do the right thing. It feels incredibly hard to acknowledge this and agree when he has essentially admitted he doesn't trust her with his dying wish. I also find it really hard to deal with the fact he is finally acknowledging how cruel she has been, but still insists we have a relationship. It makes me think he's a coward. I really want to bring this up to him, but have no idea how to say: 'Do you not think you should reconsider your marriage, based on the way in which you have shown you don't trust your wife, and believe she is jealous of your children?' Eleanor says: First non-philosophical thing: if you haven't already, I think you should get legal advice about the will. Is it that he might die intestate, and he's hoping you'll all sort it out? Or has he made arrangements, but worries she might challenge them? Legal advice would clarify what can be done now to avoid a horrible tangle later. That's hard – nobody likes to get into the details about their dad's death. Or indeed their own. But it'll be so much harder, emotionally and legally, if your first advice about a possible estate conflict only comes after he's died. To your question. You said you weren't sure how to say what you wanted to say. When we say 'I can't figure out how to say such-and-such', I always think the answer is to just say the such-and-such. You wrote it: 'Do you not think you should reconsider your marriage, based on the ways you don't trust your wife, and believe she's jealous of your children?' A heady thing to say, for sure. But it's not the word choice that makes it heady. You'd be asking your dad why he's still married. You can soften the phrasing, but it's the content of that question that makes us flinch, not the way of asking it. More frightening still is the fact that he might have an answer. Through your (and my) eyes that question is almost rhetorical: why stay married to someone you don't trust and who's mean to your kids? However, the fact that they are still married and that he wants you to have a relationship with her means that, for him, there might well be an answer. He might have considerations on the other side of the scale that outweigh the fact that she's mean to his kids. Maybe he likes her enough. Maybe he doesn't want to be alone. Maybe he thinks he's too old, he's not willing to make the change. Maybe he thinks the conflicts between her and his kids aren't his concern. Maybe what look like obvious dealbreakers to you are just some considerations among many for him. The point is, your real question for him might be an even bigger flinch. Not just 'why won't you act on your judgment?', but 'why isn't it your judgment that you should leave?' It's possible he has bona fide answers – things that, to him, are more important than the way she treats you. It is hard to say which would hurt more: him not being brave enough to act on what he values, or this being exactly what it looks like when he does. I truly don't know which of these it is. I feel for you the same in both cases. I don't know whether you should ask him either question out loud; I don't know how conversations with him tend to go, or whether his answer would make you feel better. I do know that when someone isn't acting on what they say they see, it isn't always that they lack the courage of their convictions. Sometimes they're showing us their convictions through inaction.

Truth behind Cotswolds 'poshfluencer' Lydia Millen: Her VERY different background and the unearthed Daily Mail interview she gave with her husband that she'd perhaps rather forget...
Truth behind Cotswolds 'poshfluencer' Lydia Millen: Her VERY different background and the unearthed Daily Mail interview she gave with her husband that she'd perhaps rather forget...

Daily Mail​

timean hour ago

  • Daily Mail​

Truth behind Cotswolds 'poshfluencer' Lydia Millen: Her VERY different background and the unearthed Daily Mail interview she gave with her husband that she'd perhaps rather forget...

With a different pair of Hunter wellies for every day of the week, an array of Barbour jackets, her own thoroughbred pony and a vast collection of designer bags, Lydia Millen embodies what many would consider the epitome of very British luxury. Her Instagram page is full of carefully curated photos featuring wildflower meadows and beach holidays and videos talking through her designer outfits in perfectly clipped vowels. Recent snaps show her driving down country roads in Land Rovers and on days out to Ascot and .

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