Major 430-home development planned for city site

Richard Youle, Local Democracy Reporter

A 430-home development along with a primary school, commercial units, and leisure facilities could be coming to a Welsh city.

Housebuilder BDW Trading Ltd wants to develop a 35-hectare site between Fforestfach and Waunarlwydd.

Most of the land is north of Titanium Road and Ystrad Road with a smaller portion south of Titanium Road.

The 430 properties would range from one-bedroom flats to four-bedroom houses and 86 of them would be available for social rent.

Barratt Homes would build the social rented properties and 175 of the open market homes while one of its brands, David Wilson Homes, would build the remaining 169. Access to the homes would be from Titanium Road.

Swansea Council is assessing a detailed planning application for the 430 houses in tandem with an outline application for the primary school plus three commercial units and community space referred to as a “local centre”.

Around 65% of the site is currently pastureland, according to a design and access statement submitted on BDW Trading Ltd’s behalf. There’s also scrub, marshland, woodland, a cluster of farm buildings, and a waste storage and recycling facility.

The plan is to create new areas of habitat enabling residents to look onto a network of green spaces. “Walking, running, and cycling routes will open up the meadows for everyone and create car-free connections to neighbouring communities,” the design and access statement said. “There will be plenty of places to meet your neighbours with a community heart near the school offering a place to get together for social events.”

The development would come with new paths for cyclists and walkers and increased bus services. Subject to these being implemented the transport impact of the development would be “negligible”, according to a transport assessment submitted on behalf of BDW Trading Ltd.

The primary school, along with the “local centre” and a community sports pitch, would be on the east of the site with the houses on the west and south. The northern chunk would have open space, meadows, trees, and other features such as a park running along the Afan Llan.

A pre-application consultation has been carried out including a drop-in session at St Illtyd’s Church Hall, Ystrad Road. There was feedback from two residents, who were worried about the scheme’s impact on roads and surface water flooding, during the consultation period.

A flood assessment on behalf of the applicant said the proposed houses and commercial buildings would be sited in areas deemed at little or no risk of flooding and measures would be implemented to reduce flood risk for the school and playing field area.

The 35-hectare site is part of a larger chunk of land stretching west to Gowerton and north to the A484 which was allocated by Swansea Council for 716 homes and a large employment zone as part of its current county-wide development plan.

Link road

There had been an expectation of a new east-to-west link road but the latest proposals envisage it being for pedestrians and cyclists rather than vehicles – partly because more people work from home and partly because of the new school and communities facilities proposed on site.

The residents who responded to the pre-application consultation felt the link road was needed and should be built as part of the application.