Plans for the first phase of a 1.3km riverside cycle and footpath in Swansea, which could cost £8 million, have been approved. The shared-use path on the west bank of the River Tawe will eventually connect the Tawe bridges area with White Rock Bridge, linking the city with the former Hafod-Morfa Copperworks site and Swansea.com Stadium.
First section approved
Swansea Council's application to build a 325m section has been given the go-ahead. This section will link Coles Close on the Tawe bridges end to a large riverside student complex called True Student. A future second phase will extend a further 960m to White Rock Bridge.
The project is expensive because of piling and retaining wall work. In April this year, the council's cabinet approved an £8.2 million budget over three years, including surveys and project management. There is an existing shared-use path on the opposite side of the Tawe.
Design and safety features
Low-level lighting will be installed to make the new path feel safe in the evenings and early mornings, according to a design and access statement submitted as part of the council's application. It added that there would be access for emergency vehicles if necessary.
Native tree and shrub planting will take place in clusters along with wildflowers on verges and embankments. Should severe flooding occur, the design and access statement said, the path "may become temporarily unusable" but would recover quickly. It added that a section of existing path at the True Student development, built by the developer as part of a legal agreement between it and the council, was "substandard and does not comply with active travel guidance" and will be upgraded.
Objections and next steps
One person objected to the application, citing anti-social behaviour and littering in the vicinity and noting that moped delivery riders used an existing short section of path near the Tawe bridges. The council's highways team said it wasn't possible to restrict access to the shared-use path to prevent unlawful moped use.
The planning department, which approved the application, acknowledged this issue but said in a report: "However, the potential misuse of the route by unauthorised motorised vehicles is largely a matter of user behaviour and enforcement rather than one that can be wholly addressed through the development proposed." Measures could be looked at to restrict access, it said, but they might impinge on walkers, cyclists and other legitimate users.
Separately, the council is restoring two former engine houses near White Rock Bridge, and river pontoons are in the works. The area will also be the gondola base station for the Skyline leisure attraction on the other side of the Tawe on Kilvey Hill.
