£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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This £8m would have been better spent on other cycle path connections such as connecting routes into Pontarddulais and Penclawdd as well as re-opening the cut-subway to Swansea train station. There is already a good off-road cycle path on the east bank of the river between the copper works bridge and Parc Tawe.
With respect, I disagree. The path you mention is away from the river, in fact you can’t see the river for a decent stretch of it! Having more options and being able to do a circular walk will make the area infinitely more attractive to walkers, runners, cyclists etc. The council do have plans to re-open the subway connecting the train station, as to the Pontarddulais – Penclawdd route, I don’t know much about that one unfortunately. The Tawe river is one of Abertawe’s most valuable assets. Connecting people with it, educating them about our industrial legacy and continuing transformation… Read more »
It’s nothing to do with a better cycle route or walking. The proposal is to spend money building a concrete barrier on the western bank of the river. It’s where the council depot is. Using active travel cash to subsidise or enhance council assets. Although it’s true a cycle path will be laid on top of the new embankment.
It’s really puzzling how money can be found quite readily for cycle paths but there is a huge shortage of cash available to fix a pothole! What’s going on? Cyclists seem to be more favourable than motorists.
Without a change to the way some able bodied people get around, the rapid increase in the number and size of motor vehicles, mean that the roads as we know them will, in the near future become gridlocked and doing nothing is simply not an option.
Schemes like have the potential to take people off the road for local journeys and so increase capacity, not to mention taking some strain of the NHS due to the health benefits.