Cardiff Bay Station revamp and extension plan approved

The old Bute Street station has been boarded up for decades

Plans to build an office and apartment block next to a Grade II*-listed former railway station in Cardiff have been approved.

ABA Holdings Ltd wants to renovate and convert the derelict Cardiff Bay Station and link it to a new four-storey building.

The new building would house 10 flats, offices and a cafe.

Objectors have said it was too big and would be "aesthetically jarring" but councillors voted to pass the plans.

The Victorian Society said the Bute Street station was one of the oldest and most significant railway structures in Wales and last year appeared on its list of the 10 most endangered buildings.

It said it supported a sensitive restoration scheme but the current proposal would cause a "high degree of harm to the building and its setting".

An artist's impression shows the exiting building on the left and how the new building could look on the right

Designs show how the new building would look from Lloyd George Avenue

The Ancient Monuments Society and the Association for Industrial Archaeology were also opposed to the new element.

But council planners said the cost of restoring the existing building had never been viable and past designs to extend it had "not sat comfortably with those who wished to preserve the building".

On Wednesday, councillors on the planning committee agreed there was a need to restore the old building and while there were reservations over its design, they voted in favour of the plans.

The former station is in a bad state of repair