£8m riverside cycle and walking route gets green light

Richard Youle – Local democracy reporter 

Plans for the first phase of a 1.3km riverside cycle and footpath in south Wales 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, effectively linking the city with the former Hafod-Morfa Copperworks site and Swansea.com Stadium.

Concerns have been raised about moped riders potentially using the path and other anti-social behaviour, but an application by Swansea Council 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.

It’s going to be an expensive project 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’s an existing shared-use path on the opposite side of the Tawe.

Low-level lighting will be installed to make the new path feel safe in the evenings and early mornings, a design and access statement submitted as part of the council’s application said. 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, said the design and access statement, 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 a legal agreement between it and the council, was “substandard and does not comply with Active Travel guidance” and will be upgraded.

One person objected to the application saying there was anti-social behaviour and littering in the vicinity and 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 the other side of the Tawe on Kilvey Hill.

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