Mr Hayley said the increased number of houses on the waterfront would inevitably create increased traffic as Barry was largely a dormitory town for Cardiff.

BBC: ?230m Barry waterfront house and shops plan approved

Having entered parliament in 1986, he also became mayor of Sarcelles, a poor dormitory town north of Paris, in 1995.

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On his return to Hong Kong 10 years later, his father's rice paddy was paved over and his old neighborhood had become a dormitory suburb called Fanling New Town.

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