is a ward and

community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

in the north of the city of

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

, lying north of Pentwyn and

Cyncoed Cyncoed ( ) is a community in the northeast of Cardiff, the capital of Wales. With many properties in the area fetching over £1 million, Cyncoed is considered to have some of the highest property prices in the country. Cyncoed overlooks the city ...

, between the village of Old St Mellons and the farmlands east of

Lisvane Lisvane () is a community in the north of Cardiff, the capital of Wales, located north of the city centre. Lisvane is generally considered to be one of the wealthiest residential areas of Wales, with many properties worth in excess of £1& ...

. The community had a population of 7,353 in 2011.

History

Pontprennau is Welsh for "Bridge of Trees". Lying east-west along the foot of the hills of the

South Wales valleys The South Wales Valleys () are a group of industrialised peri-urban valleys in South Wales. Most of the valleys run northsouth, roughly parallel to each other. Commonly referred to as "The Valleys" (), they stretch from Carmarthenshire in the ...

, with

Caerphilly Caerphilly (, ; , ) is a town and community (Wales), community in Wales. It is situated at the southern end of the Rhymney Valley and separated from the Cardiff suburbs of Lisvane and Rhiwbina by Caerphilly Mountain. It is north of Cardiff an ...

directly north, the area is defined by a series of hills, intersected by shallow valleys created by streams which feed as tributaries into the

Rhymney River The Rhymney River () is a river in the Rhymney Valley, South Wales, flowing through Cardiff into the Severn Estuary. The river formed the boundary between the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire until in 1887, the parishes ea ...

. Once a part of an area made up of several farms in Llanedeyrn, Pontprennau was designated in the 1970s for residential development, with the

M4 Motorway The M4, originally the London-South Wales Motorway, is the third longest motorway in the United Kingdom, running from west London to southwest Wales. The English section to the Severn Bridge was constructed between 1961 and 1971; the Welsh ele ...

Junction 30 developed for the purpose. It has expanded greatly since the early 1990s, driven primarily by private sector housing, and then corporate offices on Cardiff Gate. St. Mellons and Pontprennau were suburbs of Cardiff by 1974 and by the 1990s the estates started to spill over the boundaries into Lisvane and Cyncoed. The Pontprennau

was created from part of the Llanedeyrn ward of the previously existing St Mellons community in 1996. The remaining part of the St Mellons community became Old St Mellons.

Today

According to the

United Kingdom Census 2001 A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th Census in the United Kingdom, UK census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194. The 2001 UK census was organise ...

, there were 8,037 people living in Pontprennau. However, this has expanded greatly since, due to sustained housing development both in West Pontprennau and on further pieces of unused land. East Pontprennau, adjacent to the

M4 motorway The M4, originally the London-South Wales Motorway, is the third longest motorway in the United Kingdom, running from west London to southwest Wales. The English section to the Severn Bridge was constructed between 1961 and 1971; the Welsh ele ...

junction 30, is the commercial sector of the development, housing Cardiff Gate Business Park,

Cardiff Gate services Cardiff Gate services () is the motorway service station on the junction of the M4 motorway (junction 30) and the A4232, located on the Cardiff Gate International Business Park, adjacent to Pontprennau, north east of Cardiff, Wales. Origina ...

, and Cardiff Gate Retail Park. The business park provides office accommodation to regional representation for many multinational companies and is also home to the Emergency Control Centre for South Wales, as well as the fire training centre. Central Pontprennau is mainly devoted to housing development. The northern edge and highest point in the community is where the community centre, the church, Pontprennau Primary School and Pontprennau Medical Centre, dentist and pharmacy are located. At the bottom of the hill is the western edge, which has a small commercial area, with a large proportion of the land dedicated to industrial use now being converted to private sector housing. It also houses the

Spire Healthcare Spire Healthcare Group plc is the second-largest provider of private healthcare in the United Kingdom. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History Spire Healthcare was formed from the sale of Bup ...

hospital. West Pontprennau, situated to the west of Butterfield Park and bordering Lisvane, is the newest of the three areas. It consists mainly of residential housing, but it also contains an

Aldi Aldi (German pronunciation: ), stylised as ALDI, is the common company brand name of two German multinational family-owned discount supermarket chains operating over 12,000 stores in 18 countries. The chain was founded by brothers Karl and ...

supermarket and Cyncoed Medical Centre, which transferred from

to Pontprennau in 2005. There is also a small children's play area at Peppermint Park.

School

Pontprennau Primary school opened in September 2015. It is a 2 Form of Entry school with 48 full-time equivalent nursery places. The school was completed in two phases. The first phase was ready in time for the school year starting September 2015. At this stage the school had two reception classes plus a nursery. The school was then fully open in time for the school year commencing September 2016. The establishment of a primary school within Pontprennau aims to stop the over subscription of children attending schools in Lisvane and Llanishen. This project forms part of Cardiff Councils 21st Century Schools Programme which is 50% funding by Welsh Government.

Proposed expansion

There are several sites remaining within the area with potential to be developed. The first is to the east in a plot east of the linkroad between Pontprenau and Old St Mellons. Scheduled to provide an additional 50 or more houses, this has now been turned down twice on planning permission. Developments further east would be barred, due to the scheduled green land space between Cardiff and Newport, in which Old St Mellons lies. A proposed major expansion of the area to the west by the

Welsh Government The Welsh Government ( ) is the Executive (government), executive arm of the Welsh devolution, devolved government of Wales. The government consists of Cabinet secretary, cabinet secretaries and Minister of State, ministers. It is led by the F ...

is opposed by

Cardiff Council Cardiff Council, formally the County Council of the City and County of Cardiff () is the governing body for Cardiff, one of the Administrative divisions of Wales, principal areas of Wales. The principal area and its council were established ...

. This would see a development by

Redrow plc Redrow plc was one of the largest British housebuilders with a network of 12 operational divisions across the UK. It was based in Flintshire, Wales and employed 2,300 people. In October 2024, its merger with Barratt Developments was finalised an ...

of a further 4,000 houses in the farmland lying between West Pontprennau and

. However, since the

Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of market decline in economies around the world that occurred from late 2007 to mid-2009.

, and with apartments lying empty in

Cardiff Bay Cardiff Bay (; colloquially "The Bay") is an area and freshwater lake in Cardiff, Wales. The site of a former tidal bay and estuary, it is the river mouth of the River Taff and River Ely, Ely. The body of water was converted into a lake as part ...

and the councils pressing for development of brown field sites within the city first, development is delayed with no timescale. In July 2012, Cardiff Council's preferred new Local Development Plan was released. The plan proposed 45,000 new homes to be built in Cardiff by 2026, allowing the city's population to rise by a quarter to more than 400,000. The proposal encompasses: 7,500 homes in a new suburb west of Pentrebane; 2,000 homes on land north of junction 33 on the M4; and 6,000 west and 2,000 east of Pontprennau. The Pontprennau development would extend: *West: 6,000 homes between Pontprennau to

, stretching as far north as the M4 *East: 2,000 homes in the green land, defined by a border south of the M4 and east to the border with Newport, connecting or subsuming Pontprennau and Old St Mellons

Transport

Pontprennau has good transportation links, being located next to the

junction 30. Public transport is provided by Cardiff Bus, which serves Pontprennau with services 57 and 58, with buses running approximately every 7–8 minutes during peak time, taking around 40 minutes to reach

Cardiff City Centre Cardiff city centre () is the city centre and central business district of Cardiff, Wales. The area is tightly bound by the River Taff to the west, the Civic Centre to the north and railway lines and two railway stations – Cardiff Cen ...

via Pentwyn, Llanedeyrn,

Penylan Penylan is a district and Community (Wales), community in the east of Cardiff, the capital city of Wales, known for its Edwardian era period houses and spacious tree lined roads and avenue (landscape), avenues. Situated to both the north and ...

and

Roath Roath () is a district and Community (Wales), community to the north-east of the Cardiff city centre, city centre of Cardiff, capital of Wales. The area is mostly covered by the Plasnewydd electoral ward, and stretches from Adamsdown in the so ...

. Services 51 and 53 run through west and central Pontprenau to the city centre via the

Heath Hospital University Hospital of Wales () (UHW), also known as the Heath Hospital, is a 1,080-bed hospital in the Heath, Cardiff, Heath district of Cardiff, Wales. It is a teaching hospital of Cardiff University School of Medicine. Construction started in ...

, and the 52 service stops near west Pontprenau, running to the city centre approximately every half hour via

and

. Additionally

Adventure Travel Adventure travel is a type of tourism, involving exploration or travel with a certain degree of risk (real or perceived), and which may require special skills and physical exertion. In the United States, adventure tourism has seen growth in l ...

operates the C1 bus, running from Cardiff Gate in East Pontprennau to

Culverhouse Cross Culverhouse Cross () is a district straddling the boundary between Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, in the Community (Wales), community of Wenvoe. The district is centred on a major traffic roundabout that links West Cardiff to the M4 m ...

via the city centre. On the council's bicycle network plan, Pontprennau is linked directly to the city centre via onroad routes via Pentwyn. However, to the south a gravel trail path runs along the flood plain of the

on the

Llanrumney Llanrumney () is a suburb, community and electoral ward in east Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal ...

side of the A48 link road, which is easily accessible via tarmac paths which run north–south within the Pontprennau community. The Rhymney River trail gives both walkers and cyclists easy access to the Newport Road both west and east of Llanrumney, and hence via the eastern entrance through Llanrumney Bowls club to the extensive retail park on Newport Road West.

Sport

The field is the home of the "Pontprennau Pumas", the local

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

team, running two adult teams in the Cardiff Combination Leagues. They also have teams at under 12's and under 11's. The club are sponsored by Cardiff Gate Business Park. Pontprennau Community Centre playing fields (allocated to the school, but open for community use) provides one of many "green-grass-expanse" family activity areas within the community, and a standard sized football field.

Local services

Community Centre *Pontprennau Community Education Centre, Heol Pontprennau, Pontprennau. Church *The Bridge Church- Pontprennau, an evangelical church meeting in Pontprennau Primary School (www.bridgechurchcardiff.org) *Pontprennau Community Church, an ecumenical church, served through the Cardiff east ministry area Library *There is no library located in Pontprennau, but a mobile library service visits once a week. Parks & Play Areas *Lascelles Park - Park and children's play area *Pontprennau Playing Fields - Playing fields and basketball ball court (Hoel Pontprennau) *Crawford Drive - Park and children's play area, leading to the

Trail *Butterfield Park - Park and children's play area *Peppermint Park - Park and children's play area

Local Council

the local authority which covers Pontprennau, the main council offices are at County Hall, Atlantic Wharf,

Representation

Cardiff ward location - Pontprennau Old St Mellons

Pontprennau is a

of the City of Cardiff but there is no

community council A community council is a public representative body in Great Britain. In England they may be statutory parish councils by another name, under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007, or they may be non-statutory bodies. ...

for the area. Pontprennau & Old St. Mellons is an electoral division located in the North East of Cardiff. It is represented by Dianne Rees of the

Welsh Conservative Party The Welsh Conservatives (), also known as the Welsh Conservative Party (), is the branch of the United Kingdom Conservative Party that operates in Wales. At Westminster elections, it is the second-most popular political party in Wales by vote ...

, and Georgina Phillips of

Welsh Labour Welsh Labour (), formerly known as the Labour Party in Wales (), is an autonomous section of the United Kingdom Labour Party (UK), Labour Party in Wales and the largest party in modern Welsh politics. Welsh Labour and its forebears have won a p ...

Government

Senedd

Pontprennau is in the Cardiff North

constituency An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

for the

Senedd The Senedd ( ; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English and () in Welsh, is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, Its role is to scrutinise the Welsh Government and legislate on devolve ...

, represented by

Julie Morgan Julie Morgan (née Edwards; 2 November 1944) is a Welsh Labour Party politician, who has been a Member of the Senedd for Cardiff North seat in the Senedd since the 2011 election. She was previously Member of Parliament (MP) for Cardiff No ...

MS, a member of the Welsh Labour Party.

Westminster

Cardiff North has been represented since 2017 by

Anna McMorrin Anna Rhiannon McMorrin (born 23 September 1971) is a Welsh politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Cardiff North since 2017. A member of Welsh Labour, she has served as Assistant Government Whip since 2024. She was previousl ...

MP, a member of the Labour Party.

References

External links

Pontprennau Medical CentrePontprennau PACT at OurBobby.comPontprennau Pumas
{{Politics and Government in Cardiff Communities in Cardiff