'Disgusting' rain garden driving customers away

Qasim Din, 37, says the rain garden has become "disgusting"

A Cardiff shop owner is calling for a rain garden outside his shop to be scrapped as it keeps flooding and is putting off customers.

Qasim Din, who runs the shop on Tudor Street, says footfall to his business has halved since work started on transforming the road near Cardiff city centre in 2021.

He wants the rain garden turned into parking which he says will help boost his and others' businesses.

Cardiff Council said the rain garden outside Mr Din's shop is not working properly because people keep parking cars and delivery vans on it.

Qasim, 37, said: “Really, there is just nowhere else to park. That is the biggest problem.

“The rain gardens, they are okay in concept, but they are not all working. This one in particular in front of our store has completely failed.”

£5m transformation

Rain gardens were installed in Tudor Street as part of a £5m transformation

A rain garden is a patch of earth that usually contains grass, flowers and other plants and is designed to absorb surface run-off water after periods of rainfall.

As part of the £5m transformation of Tudor Street in 2021, a new segregated cycle path was installed along with a number of rain gardens along both sides of the street.

Every time it rains, the garden becomes waterlogged, according to Qasim, who said: “It is absolutely disgusting. It is horrible to look at.

“I have got a bad feeling that the worst is to come when the summer comes. If it starts getting hot… if it starts smelling, that is going to be disgusting right in front of the shop.

“It is already filled with litter and rubbish and horrible things. It is bad.”

The shop owner said people had been parking along Tudor Street for decades to do a quick shop before it was transformed.

“It worked,” he said. “People pulled over and went into the shops, bought their things and [left].

“A couple of minutes, that is all we need. If a customer pulls over, gets milk and bread and then shoots off in their car, now all of a sudden that little tiny spend is gone.

“If you multiply it by 10, multiply it by 20, 50 times a day that whole revenue is just gone.”

A Cardiff Council spokesperson said the council was taking steps to fix the rain garden.

“All rain gardens in Cardiff are designed to absorb water through specific soil and planting, which removes pollutants, so the water can be discharged away from the main sewer and treatment station, saving time and money," they said.

“The council is taking steps to fix the damaged engineering [at this rain garden], put in new plants and install signs so people understand what rain gardens do.

“New bollards will be put in place to stop people parking in these areas.”