Cardiff's Castle Street to reopen to cars in the autumn

A key road through Cardiff city centre will reopen to cars because a ban led to more air pollution in residential areas, the council leader said.

Castle Street was turned into an al fresco dining area last summer when indoor hospitality was banned.

While it reopens, another route identified for high air pollution - Westgate Street - will close to cars.

The Welsh government said it was "disappointed" to see cars returning to Castle Street.

Cardiff council's cabinet rubber-stamped the move on Thursday, with leader Huw Thomas saying it would take effect from the autumn and be temporary while "further analysis, monitoring and assessment" of the situation takes place.

• Castle Street turned into an al fresco dining area

• Cardiff's Castle Street set to reopen to cars

As the local authority tries to cut air pollution in the city centre, it has looked at a number of measures, including a congestion charge, introducing electric buses and lower speed limits.

A consultation took place and, of the 6,227 responses, the council said 53.8% wanted the road reopened to private cars, while 33.8% wanted them kept off it permanently.

Mr Thomas said the plan was for two lanes of traffic, one each for buses and cars, and Westgate Street will close to private vehicles.

He said Castle Street's closure had led to more pollution in Grangetown, Butetown and Riverside, which would get worse as traffic returned closer to pre-Covid levels.

While admitting Cardiff Bus and Active Travel organisations were not in favour of the return of cars to Castle Street, Mr Thomas said 6.8 miles (11km) of segregated cycle highways had been installed in Cardiff, alongside 36 new electric buses, extensive bus lanes and 20mph zones.

Deputy climate change minister Lee Waters said he was disappointed, adding: "They've taken the view that at the moment there's a displacement effect by (moving) traffic to other residential areas which is causing poor air quality there.

"It's up to them to make the judgement for how they organise their own streets."

He said he was willing to "see how that goes", adding Cardiff council was "leading the way in Wales on taking space away from cars and creating cycle lanes and bus lanes".